Published: Thursday, 19th November, 2009 7:30am

West Fife's real life Billy Elliot

by Gary Fitzpatrick

Comments (0) | Print | Email

INVERKEITHING pensioner Tom Douglas danced with Dame Margot Fonteyn and alongside Rudolph Nureyev in a glittering 48 year-career with the Royal Ballet.

He travelled the world appearing at famous venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and rubbed shoulders with screen idols such as Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner and Debbie Reynolds.

On Saturday, Tom (82), who danced under the stage name Douglas Steuart, will be a special guest when the Moscow Ballet 'La Classique' presents Sleeping Beauty at the Alhambra.

Now enjoying a quiet retirement back in his home area, Tom's is a remarkable story of a real life Billy Elliot, who rose from humble roots to dance his way across the world.

Tom was born and brought up in Rosyth and by the age of 13 had been invited to join the Sadler's Wells Ballet (later to become the Royal Ballet) under its legendary founder Ninette de Valois.

At the age of 14 he made his first appearance on stage and would go on to dance during the war years.

"People ask me how I got involved in dancing but I've no idea.

"I just remember I was dancing from the age of eight," said Tom.

"I don't know how my parents could afford to send me to classes because my dad was on the dole and then got a job as a driller at the dockyard.

"We were just an ordinary family living in Findlay Street then but I got the chance to be taught by the famous teacher, Marjorie Middleton, in Edinburgh.

"My family couldn't have afforded it but she said she wouldn't charge as long as they got me there.

"During the Edinburgh Festival or its equivalent at that time, Marjorie took me to see ballet for the first time in my life and then I was offered a scholarship in London at £2 a week.

"There was certainly no class status in ballet.

"It didn't matter your background, all that mattered was that you could dance."

This was during the war years and when one of the male dancers was called up to serve his country Tom found himself on stage.

He recalled that when the air raid sirens went off the audience were given the opportunity to stay for the rest of the performance or leave and be refunded.

"Depending on how many people stayed the show was either called off or we had to continue.

"I was young and so the bombing didn't really bother me," he said.

"As you get older, you worry about all sorts of things like the bombings you see on TV but not when you're young."

During the war, Tom and Margot Fonteyn, both teenagers, were part of the ENSA troupe entertaining the troops in France and Belgium.

With a two-year interruption for national service, Tom was to spend almost five decades with the Royal Opera.

In 1949, he embarked on the first of 13 tours of the United States, alongside Dunfermline's Moira Shearer and Margot Fonteyn, who earned rave reviews as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.

"It was our first tour of the United States and the first night at the New York Metropolitan remains a great memory," he said.

"One man was clapping so much he almost fell over the balcony.

"That was a fantastic tour and Margot was really starting to make her name then."

Another highlight for Tom was appearing in front of his parents in Edinburgh.

He said, "I still get very emotional talking about it.

"When you go home you're always pushed forward in the performance and my mother was going around the audience saying, 'That's my son'.

"My father was more impressed when Rudolph Nureyev offered me the use of his flat in Monaco and I took my parents there on holiday.

"He loved going back to his job at the dockyard and telling everybody.

"We went on tour in Russia in 1962 and were the first ones to go behind the Iron Curtain and it was around that time that Nureyev defected.

"He came and joined us and I remember at that time Margot wasn't keen on dancing with him at first.

"She was about 20 years older than him and she said to me, 'People will think I'm his mother.'

"They of course went on to form a famous partnership but I thought Margot could always outshine Rudolph."

Tom said he never made great money from his dancing career but it certainly had its perks, mixing with film stars at Holywood parties.

During one tour he stayed in the Malibu apartment of choreographer Onna White, who received a special achievement award at the Oscars for 'Oliver', and was offered the use of the swimming pool of next door neighbour Debbie Reynolds, who starred in 'Singin in the Rain'.

"Their homes were on the Pacific but you couldn't go in because of the currents.

"Debbie had a small swimming pool which she called her bath and said we could use it," Tom recalled.

He once sat chatting to Ava Gardner at a party and on another occasion Rita Hayworth gave him a personal rendition of her famous song, 'Put the Blame on Mame'.

The Royal family were also regulars at performances over the years.

"The Queen wasn't a great fan but Princess Margaret was mad about ballet," said Tom.

"They would meet the dancers after the show and one night we were introduced to the great Nijinsky, who by that time was in a mental institution but came along to a performance."

After his dancing days were over, Tom continued at the Royal Ballet as a teacher and learned the difficult skill of notation.

When he finally retired, Dame Margot wrote on his card, 'Darling Tom, Can't believe there can be a Royal Ballet without you, Love Margot.'

"I wasn't going to make a speech but after a few drinks I did and said, 'I don't believe I've worked a day in my life.'

"Jeremy Isaacs (then general director of the Royal Opera House) is always bringing that up because dancers complain so much these days.

"I couldn't wait to get the make-up on and go on stage because, especially during the war, you literally didn't know if this was going to be your last performance and you wanted to enjoy every second of it."

Tom came back home to West Fife after 55 years in London and is generally in good health but over the past year has started to suffer from arthritis.

He said, "I'm looking forward to seeing the show on Saturday and seeing the Alhambra, which I remember as a cinema in my young days.

"When I came back up here I went there with my sister to the bingo but have to admit I fell asleep."

The management at the Alhambra made the invitation to Tom after discovering he had such a famous background.

'Sleeping Beauty' will no doubt bring the memories of Dame Margot and the US flooding back.